xvi PROLOGUE
Short intermissions divide the acts. These intermissions con-
tain nuggets of great information culled from the latest findings
in cognitive research and presentation design. These findings
will help you take your presentations to an entirely new level.What Are You Really Selling?
Jobs is “the master at taking something that might be consid-
ered boring—a hunk of electronic hardware—and enveloping
it in a story that made it compellingly dramatic,” writes Alan
Deutschman in The Second Coming of Steve Jobs.^8 Only a hand-
ful of leaders whom I have had the pleasure of meeting have
this skill, the ability to turn seemingly boring items into excit-
ing brand stories. Cisco CEO John Chambers is one of them.
Chambers does not sell routers and switches that make up the
backbone of the Internet. What Chambers does sell is human
connections that change the way we live, work, play, and learn.
The most inspiring communicators share this quality—the
ability to create something meaningful out of esoteric or every-
day products. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz does not sell coffee.
He sells a “third place” between work and home. Financial
guru Suze Orman does not sell trusts and mutual funds. She
sells the dream of financial freedom. In the same way, Jobs does
not sell computers. He sells tools to unleash human potential.
Throughout this book, ask yourself, “What am I really selling?”
Remember, your widget doesn’t inspire. Show me how your wid-
get improves my life, and you’ve won me over. Do it in a way
that entertains me, and you’ll have created a true evangelist.
Along the way, you’ll also discover that Steve Jobs is motivated
by a messianic zeal to change the world, to put a “dent in the uni-
verse.” In order for these techniques to work, you must cultivate a
profound sense of mission. If you are passionate about your topic,
you’re 80 percent closer to developing the magnetism that Jobs
has. From the age of twenty-one when Jobs cofounded Apple with
his friend Steve Wozniak, Jobs fell in love with the vision of how
personal computing would change society, education, and enter-